Krystina, Olya and I were invited to spend New Years with some very good friends of ours. Svetlana, Ghena and Galina opened their home and hearts to us so that we wouldn't have to be alone in the ARK house. Not that I would have really minded going to bed early and missing all of the festivities. The day had already been exhausting enough after visiting those families in the village.
Svetlana and Ghena are the parents of our groups chaperone when we lived in Raleigh, Lena. Galina is Lena's aunt. I met them all about seven years ago, the first time I came to Belarus. Shortly after I met Ghena he showed me his collection of U.S. coins. He had the makings of a nice little collection of U.S. State Quarters and he started naming the states as he was showing them to me. The state names were pretty close to the only English he knew at the time. I wasn't quite sure how he got the quarters, but he was very proud of his collection. Every year when the new set of state quarters would come out I would send or bring him that years mint set. He is now the proud owner of a complete set and may be the only person in Belarus to have them all. Svetlana and Galina have helped out with both Krystina and Olya over the last several years. They all have very kind hearts and we have appreciated their care for the girls and of course their care for me while I am here.
When we got to their flat the table was full of food. It looked like they were expected 10 or 12 people based on the amount of food. I quickly learned that there would no other guests....I'm not going to lose that 10 pounds I was hoping to lose if I keep eating like this.
We sat around the table talking for a while. This was a little bit of a challenge since they don't speak much English and I only know a few words of Russian. Krystina did her best to interpret for us. Her English is not bad considering that she taught herself and hasn't spoken it much in about a year and a half. We managed to talk about our families and showed each other pictures.
I had emailed my wife, Leslie and asked her to call us. It was great to hear her voice and to talk to her, Grace and Jay. Being able to speak to them helped lift my spirits and given me encouragement to make it through the next few days. It's hard not to feel like I am so far away....I guess that's because I AM so far away. When I left I told Jay who is six that he was the man of the house now, and he needed to help take care of the family. According to Leslie, he has taken that role too far and thinks he can boss everyone around. I'm sure Leslie will straighten him out. Leslie spoke to Krystina for a long time, she took the phone in the other room for some privacy. I could hear all of the emotions Krystina was feeling, first laughing, then crying, then laughing again.....then more crying (I told you it was a long conversation).
At 11:00 local time they turned on the TV, where we watched the President of Russia give a speech. The only thing I understood was when he said they have had a very good year. We celebrated the Russian New Year as Moscow is 1 hour ahead of us in Belarus.
As the clock approached midnight the President of Belarus gave his annual speech. I will refrain from a political commentary at this time for various reasons. I would be happy to share my opinions with anyone willing to listen once back on U.S. soil. However, here are a couple of links to recent news stories.
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1517486&SM=1
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKmV3hbgsDTPmPZZg7okuuFaXT2A?docId=aa757c35fe02415c82092ddaa420b981
We toasted the New Year with champagne and washed it down with vodka. We ate and talked a little longer before bundling up to go for a walk and join the thousands in the streets of Mogilev. First we walked to Lennon Square, which is the center of town where there is a huge Christmas tree right in front of the statue of Lennon. Right next to the tree is one of many ice slides scattered throughout the city. These are wood slides that are completely covered in ice and is one of the main sources of recreation this time of year for the children. I refer to these as death slides. The girls were having a blast sliding down these slides, the older kids try to stand without falling and the younger ones slide down on their rear ends. The last thing I need right now is to end up in a Belarussin hospital with a broken bone, so I was just spectating.
After the ice slide we walked to another area of the city where they were getting ready for an outdoor concert. It was 2 am and they hadn't started yet. Loud music was playing (I even heard Jingle Bells in English) and people were dancing.
The concert started around 3 am when Father Frost, the Ice Princess and a large bunny mascot came out onto the stage. Apparently it is the year of the bunny in Russia. Here is a picture of the trio, the smoke in the picture is someones breath.
It was about this time that my camera started acted funny and my brand new Droid phone stopped working. I guess they don't react well to extreme cold, as a matter of fact I don't react well to extreme cold either. All these people were dancing and singing when the temperature was in single digits and below zero if you count the wind chill. Why was I the only one freezing my butt off??
My hosts for the night kept asking me if I was "holodnyi," the Russian word for cold. Trying to be tough I kept answering "nyet." After a while longer, I couldn't hide it anymore. I wanted to call it a night, it was nearly 4 am and I was shivering. Yes, it's true, I am a soft American when it comes to enduring extreme cold weather. I'll just have to live with that fact.
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